EPT![[image loading]](http://img249.imageshack.us/img249/1699/bookbyalphaone666.jpg)
0. Who I am
My name is Julian, I'm 23 years old and a Grand Masters League Protoss and Coach on EU. I've already coached 100+ people for a total of more than 300-400 hours. I've made a couple of (german) protoss guides on Youtube and wrote quite a lot of "educational texts". As I'm planning to move to an english speaking country in the future I guessed that it would be a good idea to practice writing some english tidbits. As I'm uncomfortable just writing something I guessed that it would be a good idea to write about something that I love - Starcraft II!
In all the hours I've practiced and in between all the guys that I teached I realized quite a bit about how teaching works and which things actually work in improving a player and enabling him to win - I want to write a small series of articles based on that knowledge, starting today! (Or the day this text has been written if you're not reading it on release day!).
Lets get started, shall we?
1. What is improving?
Whenever I start a coaching lesson I have one simple question for my trainee:
"What do you want to improve?"
The most common answer? Take a look!
"Uh ... in SC2?"
"Yeah, of course, but what do you want to work on?"
"Well, you know, I guess my macro isn't as good as it should by, I also sometimes make micro mistakes, my scouting isn't where it should be and my decisions are somewhat off."
"Okay ... you've got some extra money on your hands?"
"Huh? Why?!"
"Because two hours are not even remotely enough."
The biggest problem I see when I meet a player thats trying to improve is the fact that they have the impression "This game is so complicated, I better make my learning complicated and try to throw in everything at once".
The problem with that is ... its impossible. Most schools actually have a policy that limits the number of exams per day and week, because learning several things simultaneously is nigh impossible - you will end up eventually knowing 5 words off of the vocabulary list you were supposed to digest, know one or two dates of the Thirty Years' War and the names of two out of the ~206 human bones - tough luck.
So what do we do? Yep, we break things down.
2. Multitasking - The mystery of the good player
As I'm a coach I'm also listening quite a lot to young and aspiring players, dreaming about climbing the ladder or even winning some online or offline tournaments. One of the things I often hear is the impression, that a good player is nearly invincible - flawless mechanics, the best decisions in the world and impressive battle micro stir up into a flurry of godliness.
![[image loading]](http://img443.imageshack.us/img443/4920/clipboard01ex.jpg)
"Being invincible* is fun!"
+ Show Spoiler [MLG Spoiler included] +
*Leenock not included in the warranty
All of this often comes with the thought of "I need to be better, I need to be quicker" - Sure, thats true, but a lot of players don't realize how the speed comes together.
Imagine the beginning of a game, lets say its a Match-up that you've played a hundred times, you know your build order perfectly, so you begin the game calm and relaxed, build your first worker (Or don't) and put your buildings down as you've done a thousand times before while thinking about what you could eat after the match, how much you hate school or how much you like watching MLG. And now compare that with a practice game where you try out a new build for the first or even the tenth time.
"Ah snap, what goes where?"
"Oh, its already time for my Hydralisk den?"
"Man, I really nailed that 6pool build order quickly ^.^!"
All of those thoughts obviously are important and they will possibly lead to the same result, but theres one major problem:
Those questions are binding your thoughts.
Of course, if you focus on what you're doing you should be able to do the build as long as you have the supply numbers handy, but while you do that, you don't have time for all the things that you know belong to a good game: scouting, poking, looking dashingly handsome, drinking a cup of water, you name it.
And this is where I try to control my students! If you want to be quick, if you want to be clever and if you want to be invincible, then you need a point to start. You need a foundation, a first line on the paper to follow, if you will. If you pick a build, play it a thousand times and get killed a thousand times, then you will actually know what to do the next thousand times. Heck, it could even be that you need to die three thousand times to learn everything neccessary. Is that a bad thing? No, everybody has gone trough that. Does that make you a bad player? No, everybody has gone trough that. Should you quit because you sometimes lose? Uh ... do you want me to answer that?
3. So, Felo, what do you want me to do?
Easy enough, go back to the basics. Are your mechanics good? No? Watch this video and embrace its thoughts.
If you practice a kick a thousand times without knowing what you are striving for, you will never do it right. If you practice a combo a thousand times without knowing how to perform the opener correctly, you will fail. If you know the technique and can imagine what needs to be done, you will succeed far quicker than before thousand tries.
The Kick
Check the video above, pick the stream of your favorite player and watch it - don't look on his build, don't try to copy his awesome shenanigans, just look at how he's playing the game. How is he moving the camera, what are his hotkeys, when is he moving the screen away from his army or his base? Try to realize how the game is meant to be played!.
When you are done with that, you can put it to the test on a map like the "Team Liquid Multi Tasking Trainer". The reason why I put this before practicing a build is the fact that you actually don't need a build for that. As soon as you know how to get a dropship, overlord drop or warp prisms you are good to go and just mass up as many units as you possibly can.
The Combo
Feeling comfortable with that? Great, next step would be picking your builds.
Are you a defensive player? Go with a defensive expansion build and get killed over and over again from the multitudes of cheese and timing attacks - and whenever someone sinks your teeth in you, he may suck your ladder points out of you, but you absorb wisdom and ideas about how to stop the next filthy laddervampire.
More of the agressive type? Great, you will have it easier to advance the ladder, but your task is it to really keep an eye on your mechanics, don't be sloppy, try to play in the most efficient manner and still learn your hotkey and as much as you can about macro, because there will be the time where games will be longer and your mechanics will be taxed.
Whatever you do, stick to the plan. If it fails, watch the replay, try to figure out what you could try in the next match and try it then. If you win, keep the replay handy and watch it when you get sad about your losses - thats always a good time to rejoice in rewatching your past wins and noting all the things you've done great in those games and what you should embrace to get out of your streak and the sadness.
4. Felo, I've already read all that somewhere
I hope so! But as with every story (and the advice I've just given), everything needs a point where it begins, so I decided to write out this small text while I had some spare time between my current set of exams (I'm just finishing my apprenticeship, final exam on wednesday, wohoo!).
I have quite a lot of ideas for the next set of articles and I will try to add in a lot of the stories out of my coachings to make the reading experience useful and unique.
Most of my german guides all were awfully long and too detailed, so I tried a different approach with this text - short and to the point. Has it worked? I hope so, if not, please point me into the right direction!
Final Note: You can also submit replays in this thread, I will try to analyze them as I can fit it into my schedule!
